It's funny how quickly life can change. Haidyn Rae was born on June 25, 2010 at 5:02pm, and our lives will never be the same. Two and half months ago today we received a phone call. A birth mom wanted to meet with us that Wednesday. All we were told was that the baby is African American, the gender was unknown, and that the baby was due soon....that Saturday soon.
We met with Stefannie that Wednesday and talked for about two hours. We talked about nothing really. It seemed that Jason and I were asking the hard questions. All she asked us was if we had a name picked out. We didn't have a first name, but we wanted to give our middle name to the baby.
It's hard to describe how we felt when we left. More confused than anything. We had just met with a young woman who was about to place her baby with an adoptive couple, and all she asked us was if we had a name picked out.
Thursday had to be the longest day of our lives. At VBS, my six year old niece asked me if we knew anything yet. I told her that maybe by the end of VBS we would know, and she said "OOHH, that long!" Trust me, I knew how she felt. It's hard to hand over control to someone. But to wait for someone to make a decision that would either completely change your life forever or you just keep going on as you did the day before can drive you to insanity! Finally, at 5pm we got the call saying that she had chosen us. After reality sunk in, panic set in. Any day we were going to become parents.
I expected that the baby would come on Saturday or maybe Sunday. And I hadn't done much because I didn't even know where to begin to get ready for this baby. I figured that maybe Friday night or Saturday morning we would head for Tucson and I would do some shopping while we waited to hear from the agency. Well, I get a call Friday around 3 pm saying the Stefannie was going into labor. Jason was 30 minutes away from the house, and I was trying to pack things in a hurry. It just seemed like it took us forever to leave. And as we are walking out the door, I get another phone call saying that the birth mom wants me in the room during the delivery and that she was 7cm dilated. Things were moving quickly!
Needless to say we didn't make it. Haidyn was born at 5:02pm Friday evening. We got there about an hour after she was born. She weighed in at 7lbs. 2 oz and 19 inches long. Jason likes to say that we had a 24 hour pregnancy....but it was years of labor. I will never forget the feeling of walking into the room and Stefannie handing me this most precious baby girl. Stefannie choose the name Haidyn and we gave her my middle name.
This is considered a high risk adoption because the birth father has not been found or contacted. This week we were brought back to reality that nothing is final yet, and that he still has his rights to claim her. I guess this is what faith is all about. Trusting in God, knowing that He knows the bigger picture.
For now, we continue loving this beautiful baby that He has placed in our care.
